Excavating apparatus.



W. F. NHCODEWIUS.

EXCAVATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED AuG.9. 1911. IIENEwED Dsc. 5,1914.

Patented Oct. 31,1916.

4 SHEETS-SHEET I Attorneys,D

Lwmm.

Witneses W` F. NICODEMUS.

EXCAVATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION man Aua.9, |911. RENEwEn nic. 5.1914.

Patented 001. 31, 1916.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Attorneys Witnesss l W. F. NICODEIVIUS.

EXCAVATING APPARATUS.

APPucATloN F|LED AuG.9. |911. RENEwED Dc.5.1914.

. Patented Oct. 31, 1916.

jg c Mw 4 SHE-SHEET 3.

Witnesses Attorneys W. F. NICODEMUS.

EXCAVATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED Auw, 1911. nENEwED DEc.5,1914.

l Patented Oct. 31, 1916.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

Witnesses WILLIAM IIE". NCUDEMUS, OIF JOHNSTOWN, PENNSYLVANM, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE v ASSIGNMENTS, T LA CULLE G1R/1N@ MACHJINE (20.,- INC., OIF "Mt PENNSYLVANIA.

EXCVATJING AJPPTUS.

patenten oet. si, raie.

-dpplication tiled .august 9, w11, eriall No. 643,157. Renewed December 5,19%. tertal No. 675,721.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that ll, WILLIAM F. Nicolin-y MUs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Johnstown, in the" county of Cambria and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and usefulEXcavating Apparatus, of which the following is a specication.

rlhis invention relates to an excavating apparatus and consists in the Anovel construction and arrangement of its parts as hereinis pivotally mounted a secondary frame. A.

beam is slidably mounted with relation to the said secondary frame and car-ries at one end a digging member.. in .engine is mounted upon the primary frame and' means is provided for operatively connecting the said engine with the beam to move the same within thesaid secondary frame. A. guiding chain is carried by the said beam and lpasses through a gripping device wherebyv the dropping movement of the digging element may be controlled. fConveyers are provided in conjunction with the apparatus and meansfare provided for 'operating the said conveyers from the engine.

' in the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a top plan view of the excavating appa- .ratus `lFig. 2`is a side elevation of the same.

lllig. 3 is an end 'elevation of the same with parts broken away. Fig. d is a side elevation of a motion transmission device used in the apparatus.-

5 is a side elevation of the digging elements forming a part of the apparatus. l

The apparatus consists of a frame l which is mounted upon supporting wheels 2. An engine 3 is mounted upon the frame l and may be of any ty e or forni.. l it superstruc' ture 4f is'rnounte upon the frame l and a vertically disposed shaft 5 is journaled for rotation in the lower portion of the said superstructure 4. A secondary frame 6 is pivotally mounted upon the shaft 5 and is adapted to swing horizontally within .the superstructure d. A shaft Z is journaled for rotation in the secondary frame 6 and is pro? vided with a beveled gear wheel 8 which meshes with a beveled gear wheel 9. xed to the upper end of the shaft 5. A gear wheel 10 is fixed to the intermediate portion of the shaft 7 and meshes with gear teeth ll carried by a beam l2. 'llhe said beam l2 is adaptedl to slide longitudinally through the secondary frame 6.

A roller 13 is journaled upon a table ld which in turn is attached to the upper end 0f a shaft 15 journaled in the superstructure d. The edge portions of the table lll rest upon the rollers 16 journaled in the upper portion of the superstructure d. The roller 13 is provided with a peripheral groove having link recesses i7 and a brake lever i8' is fulcrumed upon the table lt and is provided with a shoe i6 adapted at times to frictionallry engage the periphery ofthe roller i3.

he intermediate portion of 'a chain t9 is trained over the roller i3 and its links enter the recesses i7 whereby the chain cannot slip with relation to the roller. .d beveled vgear wheel is ned to the upper portion of the secondary frame 6 and the lower end of the shaft l5 and meshes with a beveled gear wheel 2l fixed to the end of a shaft 22 which is journaled upon the superstructure d. A hand wheel 23 is fined to the outer end of the shaft 22.

A disk2fi ,is fined to the lower end of the shaft .5 and rollers 25 are journaled in the superstructure d and bear against the upper side of the disk 2d at diametrically opposed points.

A. shaft 26 is iournaled for rotation under the disk 2t Aand is square in transverse section as illustrated in lFig. d of the drawing. 'A friction roller 2'? is slidably mounted upon the 'shaft 26 but is constrained to plained. Each end of the shaft 26 is jour-- naled in a pivoted bearing 28 and a lever 29 is fulcrumed upon the frame l and has .its working end located under the free end portionl of the bearing 28. d pulley 30 is fined to the shaft 26 and a pulley 3l is hired to the shaft' of the engine 3. i belt 32 is ice i trained around the pulleys 30'and 3l and is M0 I adapted to transmit rotary movement from the engine to the shaft 26. A continuous cable 33 is trained around the pulleys 34 journaled upon the superstructure 4 and the shaft of one of the pulleys 34 is provided with a hand wheel 35 whereby the Said pulley may be manually rotated. The cable 33 is provided at its lower run with upstanding lugs 36 which are located at the opposite sides of the roller 27.

A shaft 37 is journaled upon the frame 1 and is provided with a belt pulley 38. A pulley 39 is fixed to the shaft of the engine 3 and aI belt 40' ,is trained around the pulleys 38 and 39 and is adapted-to transmit rotary movement from the shaft 0f the engine 3 to the shaft 37. A stub shaft 41 vis journaled upon `the frame 1 at right anglesI to the shaft 37 and is provided with a beveled gear wheel 42 which meshes with a beveled gea-r wheel 43 fixed to the shaft 37. 'Atrunk 44 is `located beyond one end of the frameJ 1 and an endless belt 45 is arranged fo'r movement along the said trunk. The belt 45 is trainedaround an operating shaft 46 which is journaled in the trunk 44 and a sprocket wheel 47 is mounted upon the said shaft 46. A shaft 48 is journaled upon the 'frame 1 and a sprocket wheel 49 is fixed thereto. A sprocket wheel 50 is also fixed to the shaft 48 and a sprocket chain 51 is trained around the sprocket wheels 50 and 47. An idle sprocket wheel 52 is journaled upon the frame 1 and a sprocket chain 53 is trained about the wheels 52, 49, and 5 4 carried by shaft 41. Therefore means is provided for transmitting movement from the engine 3 to the conveyer b'elt 45. The belt 45 is provided with cross strips 55 which project beyond the edges of the belt and operate under vflanges at the side of the trunk 44 as shown in Fig. 2. The trunk 44 mayalso be providedl with cross stays located between the upper and lower runs of the belt and the said stays may carry strips upon which the upper run of the belt may travel. A detachable elevator trunk 56 is applied to either end of the trunk 44 and is provided at its outer end with a roller 57 around which the outer portion of the belt 45 is trained. The trunk 44 is provided with a i wheel 47 at each end and the chain 51 may be trained around either wheel 47 according to the direction it is desired to drive vthe belt 45. y

An earth-engaging member is attached to one end of the beam 12 and consists of a curved bar 56 which carries a series of bits 57. A spring arm 58 is attached at one end to the beam 12 and .at its other end to the ,intermediate portion of the bar 56 and braces 59 are connected at their inner ends to the beam 12 and at their outer ends to the end portion of the bar 56.

In using the apparatus the wheel 23 is rotated andv motion is thusl transmitted through gears 21 and 20 to the shaft 15 and the secondary frame 6 which can thus be swung to the right or to the left, the beam 12 moving with it. Thus the bits 57 can be caused to engage the soil at one side or the other of the frame 1 or immediately in front of the end of the frame. By bearing down upon lever 18, shoe 18 is caused to contact `with roller 13 to retard or entirely stop the rotation of the same. Thus the chain 19 which has its ends secured to the respective end portions of the lbeam 12 will be held against longitudinal movement and the bits 57 can be supported by the chain out of contact with lthe ground. The beam 12 is pro-v the position of the roller 27 on the face of disk 24, this position. bein varied by the manipulation of the hand w ieel 35. During the forward projection of the beam 12 the rotation of wheel 13 is retarded, thus allowing the chain 19 to move longitudinally at a sufficient speed to supportthe beam 12 in a substantially horizontal position. When the beam hasbeen projected forwardly a desired distance the foot lever 29 is released, thus breaking the contact between the roller 27 and the disk 24 and by then releasing the wheel 13 so that it can rotate freely, the bit end of the beam 12 will swing downwardly with the result that the bits 57 will bite into the soil. The roller 27 is then shifted so that when it is brought against disk 24 -by the manipulation of lever 29, the movement of the disk and of the beam 12 will be reversed with the result that the bits 57 will be drawn toward the conveyer 25 and this return movement of the bits can be controlled by retarding or releasing the wheel 13 and by raising or lowering the beam 12 and the frame 6. During the movement of the bits toward the trunk 44 and its conveyer, the roller 13 can be released so that the chain 19, which is secured to the two endsl of the beam 12, will work freely over the roller. Thus as the bits drag ,over the ground and toward the conveyer they will llt therealong, `means engaging the rack for moving -the beam backwardly and for-4v wardly, a roller supported for rotation above the beam; a exible element secured at its ends to the ends ot the beam and extending over the'roller, and means for controlling the rotation of the roller and the movement of* said flexible connection, during the movement of the beam, and a soil engaging structure at one end of the beam.

2. Excavating apparatus including a tiltable beam, a rack extending longitudinally thereof, a pinion engaging the rack, means stopping the rotation of the roller during tti the manipulation of the beam thereby to shift the beam upwardly or downwardly or to maintain the beam vat a predetermined angle during the shifting of the beam by the pinion, and a soil engaging means at one end of the beam.

3. Excavating apparatus including a longitudinally movable beam, a rack extending therealong, means engaging the rack for moving the beam backwardly and forwardly, a -roller supported for rotation above the beam, a Hexible element secured at its ends to the ends of the beam and eX- tending overthe roller, and means for controlling the rotation of the roller and the movement of said flexible connection, during the movement of the beam, and means at one end of the beam for engagingand holding soil,.'said structure including braces inclined ldownwardly away from and lixedly connected to the beam, an` arcuate series of bits fxedly connected to the braces and in@ clined downwardly and inwardly relative tov the beam, and a spring arm connecting said series of bits to the beam. i

ln testimony that lll claim the foregoing as my own, lhave hereto alixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM F. NICODEMUS.

Witnesses: A

A. E. FICHTNER, JOSEPH Honnnnolan. 

